Tax Cuts

There's a lot of concern that if we were to enact all of the tax cuts in the "Contract with America" that it would make it all but impossible to bring the deficit under control.Who said that?None other than House Rules Committee chairman Gerald B. H. Solomon, a solid conservative Republican from gentry country up the Hudson River. He also happens to be a no-nonsense deficit hawk who has "a lot of concern" about a Newt Gingrich tax-cut package that would cost the Treasury an estimated $190 billion over five years and -- get this!

WASHINGTON -- Opposition in Congress appears to be mounting against the Republican drive for tax cuts as Americans begin to recognize how deeply federal spending would have to be squeezed to eliminate the budget deficit.Republican supporters of a House-passed proposal to cut taxes on families and businesses by $350 billion over seven years acknowledge that they lack the votes to win Senate approval when the issue comes up, probably next week.Some senators who favor tax cuts are trying to craft a smaller package as a fall-back option.

ATLANTA -- Barnstorming the country to drum his outsized tax cut to a public that, if the polls are right, is largely indifferent, President Bush is telling us we've been overcharged by the federal government and are due a refund. This is an appealing conceit -- it makes righteous victims of us all -- but, to put the matter politely, it is not true. We are being overcharged only if you think the future doesn't matter. And even if you do think that, the future is still out there, coming fast and bringing challenges.

WASHINGTON -- More than 200 years after the Boston Tea Party, the Republican Party is attempting to prove that taxes can still fuel a revolution.As they prepare to convene as the new majority, House Republicans are poised to pass a package of tax cuts calculated to lessen the tax burdens of most Americans, from the working poor to the idle rich -- and almost everyone in between.Even Senate Republicans seemed to be caught unawares by the passion in the House for tax cuts.At the White House, officials say they don't know how the president will respond because they don't know precisely what taxes the Republicans will try to cut -- or which existing programs they will target in order to pay for them.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Republicans' $189 billion tax cut bill last week, sending it to the Senate, where it is expected to receive a cool reception.The centerpiece of the tax bill, which is opposed by the Clinton administration, is a $500-per-child tax credit for children in families earning $200,000 a year or less.The measure also cuts the top capital-gains tax rate on profits from asset sales, expands depreciation write-offs for plants and equipment and rolls back the increased tax on higher-income Social Security recipients enacted in 1993.

TO WATCH the Congress this past week trying to fashion a tax cut that will appeal to average Americans, still satisfy social and religious conservatives and at the same time please the wealthiest constituencies is like watching a bunch of roosters trying to lay an egg.The problem with all these various tax-cut packages they're bickering over comes when you do the arithmetic. Crunch them through a cheap calculator and apply them to individual or typical taxpayers and huge tax cuts that leap from a newspaper headline have a way of shrinking to a monthly tax savings equal to the price of a six-pack and a boiled potato.

Voters swept Republicans into the driver's seat of the next Congress Nov. 8, setting the stage for the new GOP majority to try to make good on its pledge to cut taxes by $193 billion over five years. Last week, President Clinton's budget director, Alice Rivlin, attempted to put a cold compress on tax cut fever, saying the tax cut would hurt the economy. Her scenario: a big tax cut without larger spending cuts than the $45 billion the GOP proposes would lead to inflation. Then interest rates would be forced so high to fight inflation that the nation would face recession.

TOKYO -- A tentative compromise yesterday over an economic stimulus program rescued Japan's shaky coalition government from dissolution.Under the agreement, the coalition agreed to push ahead with a $55 billion reduction in income taxes. The most contentious issue, how to fund the program, was shelved until later.The compromise by coalition leaders opened the way for the approval of a long-awaited spending plan to help Japan out of its economic doldrums. That sent Japan's stock market soaring today.

Can Baltimore afford to cut its property or beverage container tax this year?Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke says definitely not.City Council President Mary Pat Clarke says she isn't sure.The two rivals in September's Democratic mayoral primary voiced their views in separate interviews after yesterday's meeting of the Board of Estimates, where Mr. Schmoke's preliminary budget for the fiscal year beginning in July was officially unveiled.The $2.3 billion operating and construction budget calls for 111 new police officers -- of which 96 are paid for by federal grant money -- and 50 new teachers.

WASHINGTON -- Just about a year ago, when Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush was touting a huge tax cut as the prime item in his pitch to the American people, it seemed his chances of achieving it were microscopic. By this time in the 2000 presidential primary cycle, he had already salted away his party's nomination. But Democratic candidate Al Gore had done the same on the Democratic side, and had the tax-cutting Texan in his sights. Mr. Gore's talents for destroying the opposition had just been abundantly demonstrated in his aggressive disposal of Bill Bradley.